Consoles and Exclusives: Is there a point to it anymore?

[thiosk]

So, Exclusives prevent Monopolies. Case closed.

Just like there's only one kind of DVD player, PC, Hi-fi, phone, MP3 player etc. in existence? Case re-opened.

Edit: How can the case be closed when half the argument is ignored? Love it!

POeople who write case closed on the internet are almost always not closing the case with their statement. Its the same kind of thing as the people who write something inane and then /thread at the end of it.

You don't get to /thread your own comment.


OT: I just don't see a point to the gated communities presented by console gaming companies, and I don't understand the pre-consumption purchase rationalization. Its like stockholm syndrome. These people ***** about THE CORPORATIONS! in all things and then try to frame microsoft/sony as somehow better than the other?

 

[Ritualist]

Consoles are made to be simplistic and convenient.
Exclusives mean competition in that market. Means the technology has to strive to be better. Means eventually better on the consumers side. (usually. The last generation showed us how willing to be abused we are, and how willing to abuse the companies are.)

 

[TelHybrid]

Of course there's a point. It makes you choose a platform (if you can only get one). Exclusives like Last of Us and GTA V (well not strictly exclusive but bear with me) are the reasons I don't do PC gaming. I can't play them on the PC. That's why I'll probably buy an Xbox One, the exclusives are head and shoulders above PS4 in my opinion.

You do know the makers of The Last of Us (Naughty Dog) are Sony exclusive? Their next game wont be on Xbox One. :S

OT: From a consumer standpoint, exclusives are an inconvenience. The only benefit they have for a consumer is bragging rights over fanboy squabbles over which console is best.

From a business standpoint, you'd be stupid to NOT have exclusives for your console. You think many people would buy a Wii or Wii U without Nintendo's first party games? How many Playstation 3 consoles do you reckon Metal Gear Solid 4 sold? Let's not forget how much Halo dominated online gaming for ages.

Movies have not been able to keep this paradigm of competitive exclusivity. The most recent instance I can recall is blu-ray vs HD-DVD, and we all know how that went. I think where games differ is the different ways in which they can be played. Like if you play a movie on a smartphone or tablet via a download, and then play it through an optical disc format on a TV, aside from any external factors (video and audio quality on either the file or the disc), it's still the same movie. You can enjoy the same experience.

With games, there's so many different factors. One big one is graphics. This is often seen as a bad thing to bring up when talking about video games, which is odd considering they're video games, but whatever. If you play a game on technologically inferior hardware, you will have a lower quality visual to look at. This can also affect physics. This is why you won't see GTA V on PS Vita. It would not be the same experience.

There's also control schemes. If someone tried to adapt MOBAs for controllers, it would be so unintuitive!

There will always be exclusivity in video games.

 

[Elberik]

As long as consoles remain cheaper than gaming PCs, they will stick around.

 

[Tom_green_day]

You do know the makers of The Last of Us (Naughty Dog) are Sony exclusive? Their next game wont be on Xbox One. :S

I do know that, not sure how it links to my point as I meant TLOU was a good exclusive for PS3, and for next-gen exclusives I think I may throw my eggs in the Xbox One basket as I think it has the better exclusives, ND or not.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

But why do you think that with no exclusives a single console will dominate? There will be competition between console makers and you'll have the console makers doing their best to create their console, and you'll get it for a good price.

Because it has almost always happened in Capitalistic Nature: It happened in the 80's with Nintendo and Consoles, In the 90's with Microsoft and Windows/PC's, and it's happening in the modern day with Android Phones, Apple's Itunes, Sony's Blu-Ray Players and Valve's Steam. Of course their is still competition, but it's pointless because everyone's going to go with the leader here, and half of the time the Competition is either missing features or costs more then the leaders. And in almost all of the cases above, the Leader pulls crap that are very anti-Consumer (Nintendo Price Gouged and Limited Supplies, Microsoft forced their programs be on the computer at all time or else the system would crash 24/7, Apple is always spying on you with their products and programs, and you can't sell the games you own on Steam).

 

[Doom972]

But why do you think that with no exclusives a single console will dominate? There will be competition between console makers and you'll have the console makers doing their best to create their console, and you'll get it for a good price.

Because it has almost always happened in Capitalistic Nature: It happened in the 80's with Nintendo and Consoles, In the 90's with Microsoft and Windows/PC's, and it's happening in the modern day with Android Phones, Apple's Itunes, Sony's Blu-Ray Players and Valve's Steam. Of course their is still competition, but it's pointless because everyone's going to go with the leader here, and half of the time the Competition is either missing features or costs more then the leaders. And in almost all of the cases above, the Leader pulls crap that are very anti-Consumer (Nintendo Price Gouged and Limited Supplies, Microsoft forced their programs be on the computer at all time or else the system would crash 24/7, Apple is always spying on you with their products and programs, and you can't sell the games you own on Steam).

I remember SEGA being a tough competitor in the pre-Playstation days - almost Nintendo's equal, Windows PCs didn't wipe out consoles or non-Windows PCs, and while Apple dominates in the US, Android devices are far more popular worldwide. Alternatives always exist for those who seek them.

Also, exclusivity won't stop the scenario you described from happening. If Microsoft manages to get exclusivity on a single CoD game, Playstation will become a niche console like the WiiU. So I wouldn't say that exclusivity prevents monopolization.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

SNIP

Sega wasn't a real competitor until 1991 with the release the Exclusive "Sonic The Hedgehog" game for the Mega Drive/Genesis (Although the Sega Master System was popular in Europe, it was Crushed in Japan and the United States by the NES/Famicom). Until then Nintendo really did have a stranglehold on the Market.

While it's true that Apple's still existed in the 90's, they were still a joke here in the States. I'm not sure about Europe and Asian Markets. But it was during the 90's that Window's became the leading Operating System for Businesses, something that still occurs to this day. And it was also in the 90's that Microsoft was Sued and had to be divided into two companies.

And what you said about Alternatives is the problem: Of course alternatives always exist, but when the Competition isn't as popular, as cheap, or as powerful as the Main-line product, then it's not a serious competitor, and anyone that actually has it is a joke. Consider the Zune (Yeah, remember that?); it was pretty much like an Ipod. But because it was more expensive, came out later, and wasn't as "Hip" as Ipods where, combined with a harder operating system for both itself and it's version of Itunes, it sadly lagged behind and failed. Now if it had launched at the same time as the Ipod, or actually had something that would really prove itself superior to the Ipod, then it might have been a real competitor. But sadly, it wasn't, and now Big Brother Apple is pretty much watching everyone in the United States.

Or let's look at that through a video game lense: If your unhappy with Steam, what are you going to do? Get Discs that are slowly dying because of Steam's popularity? Go to Origins or UPlay that are even worse? Abandon PC Gaming all together and miss out on all those PC exclusives?

Also, what you say about Microsoft getting CoD Exclusivity brings up another issue: Just like with Nintendo in the 80's or Sony in the Mid-90's, why would 3rd Parties bother making Video Games for Consoles that are not as big as the biggest console? Companies live to make money, and if the fact that the WiiU has the bare minimum of 3rd Party support has proven anything, its that these 3rd Parties will not bother making their games on Alternatives that don't sell. So instead of Exclusivity based on "Back Room Deals", you'd have Exclusivity just because that's where the Money is. Just like Nintendo in the 80's (Albeit there were also some rules Nintendo had at the time that were terrible). So in the end, you wouldn't be getting rid of Exclusives, you'd just be changing how they happen.

 

[Doom972]

SNIP

Sega wasn't a real competitor until 1991 with the release the Exclusive "Sonic The Hedgehog" game for the Mega Drive/Genesis (Although the Sega Master System was popular in Europe, it was Crushed in Japan and the United States by the NES/Famicom). Until then Nintendo really did have a stranglehold on the Market.

While it's true that Apple's still existed in the 90's, they were still a joke here in the States. I'm not sure about Europe and Asian Markets. But it was during the 90's that Window's became the leading Operating System for Businesses, something that still occurs to this day. And it was also in the 90's that Microsoft was Sued and had to be divided into two companies.

And what you said about Alternatives is the problem: Of course alternatives always exist, but when the Competition isn't as popular, as cheap, or as powerful as the Main-line product, then it's not a serious competitor, and anyone that actually has it is a joke. Consider the Zune (Yeah, remember that?); it was pretty much like an Ipod. But because it was more expensive, came out later, and wasn't as "Hip" as Ipods where, combined with a harder operating system for both itself and it's version of Itunes, it sadly lagged behind and failed. Now if it had launched at the same time as the Ipod, or actually had something that would really prove itself superior to the Ipod, then it might have been a real competitor. But sadly, it wasn't, and now Big Brother Apple is pretty much watching everyone in the United States.

Or let's look at that through a video game lense: If your unhappy with Steam, what are you going to do? Get Discs that are slowly dying because of Steam's popularity? Go to Origins or UPlay that are even worse? Abandon PC Gaming all together and miss out on all those PC exclusives?

Also, what you say about Microsoft getting CoD Exclusivity brings up another issue: Just like with Nintendo in the 80's or Sony in the Mid-90's, why would 3rd Parties bother making Video Games for Consoles that are not as big as the biggest console? Companies live to make money, and if the fact that the WiiU has the bare minimum of 3rd Party support has proven anything, its that these 3rd Parties will not bother making their games on Alternatives that don't sell. So instead of Exclusivity based on "Back Room Deals", you'd have Exclusivity just because that's where the Money is. Just like Nintendo in the 80's (Albeit there were also some rules Nintendo had at the time that were terrible). So in the end, you wouldn't be getting rid of Exclusives, you'd just be changing how they happen.

This is becoming a conversation about monopolization, which is big unsolved problem, and I won't pretend I have a solution for it. Exclusivity of game titles doesn't prevent it, otherwise we would've had a lot more consoles.

 

[TelHybrid]

As long as consoles remain cheaper than gaming PCs, they will stick around.

This is true. On top of that there's the ambiguity surrounding the purpose of PCs. It's easy to see associating a PC as a games machine to be unnatural when you see them in offices and schools.

Hell, the main reason I tend to keep my PC up to date is because I do a lot of video editing. Gaming is secondary.

Consoles allow convenience, while to be a PC gamer, you either have to spend thousands on pre-built machines, or spend a bit of time learning to custom build, which to many seems daunting and too much hassle.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

This is becoming a conversation about monopolization, which is big unsolved problem, and I won't pretend I have a solution for it. Exclusivity of game titles doesn't prevent it, otherwise we would've had a lot more consoles.

But we do have a 3 big consoles and a fourth one coming, plus a ton of micro-consoles which are coming out. Most if not all of them will have something exclusive to them and not to everyone else. Even if Exclusivity doesn't prevent monopolization of Gaming Consoles completely, it has certainly only helped prevent it up to this point. Without Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sony getting Exclusives with their original Playstation, we would only have Nintendo consoles.

 

[wowu5]

Why would so one even try to compare Console exclusive with PC exclusive?
First of all, games are PC exclusive because they are not able/suitable to run on console. I don't think that a console can handle a Total War or simulation game like Arma 3. Those game aren't console controller friendly either, think of how crappy the control of Halo Wars is and how many key bindings does a simulation/RTS required that only a keyboard can handles.
The majority casual console players won't be interested in playing a Victoria 2 or Farming simulator 2013 either. So it's just not worthy for Paradox or other developers to spend resource on Console convert on games with estimated low console sales.

And I believe that nearly all console players can play PC Indie games on their low-end utility computer, so there's no need for a console version (and I doubt if all indie game makers have the ability of doing the covert work).



Console exclusive games are, in contrary, exclusive simply because Microsoft/Sony want them to be. On the technical aspect, I don't see the reason why a Xbox 360 can't run Killzone or why a PC can't handle a Halo (and it did for Halo 1 and 2). Of course it would be horrible to play FPS on Wii, but there's no excuse that PC's Keyboard+mouse won't be able to deal with it.


That's why we're calling Console exclusive games as 'hostage'. If you want to play Halo, you must buy a Xbox, there's no other platform that run Xbox game not produced by Microsoft.
If you want to play Euro Truck simulator, you have numerous options in building your gaming PC (as long as not apple). CPU, graphics cards, ram...etc, all have different producers and that encourage competition as well.